There are a range of safety features which are common to certain kinds of trucks including seat belts on sit-down vehicles. On most stand-up vehicles there are dead-man petals as well. Additionally, some manufacturers are offering extra features such as speed controls which can decrease the overall speed based on steering angle and load height. For more info, there are many articles available on Loading Dock Safety and Lift Truck Safety.
Service and Support
Making certain you would maintain access to high levels of support and service is a really vital part of lift truck selection. There seem to be a variety of new players within the lift truck business every year. Even if they offer a nice price and a decent forklift design, if they do not provide the regional or local support and service infrastructure, you must be prepared for significant stress when the forklift goes down. Each and every kind of lift truck goes down at some point and parts, service and general questions would probably need to be addressed at some point.
You will normally want to have a nearby dealer or repair shop with a complete supply of the parts you require for your specific unit. Be certain to visit the dealership or the repair shop and check their parts room in order to try to understand how many parts they stock. Make certain to inquire that if they do not have the component you require, where will it come from? Hopefully, the answer will be from a regional or local distribution facility.
Try to get some additional ideas on the models presently utilized within your vicinity. This is doubly vital for specialty trucks such as turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks in use in their service area that you must assume they might not be stocking many if any parts for them. Also, they may have very little overall experience in servicing that particular model as well.